2/1 - Friday Recap

Feb 01, 2019

McKendree 3, Lourdes 1
The McKendree men's volleyball team defeated Lourdes University in its first game of the Lindenwood Invitational Friday, 3-1. The Bearcats improve to 2-3 overall on the 2019 season.

McKendree started set one strong going up 5-2 over the Grey Wolves but attack errors by the Bearcats allowed Lourdes to tie things up. From there, McKendree fell stagnant allowing the Grey Wolves to gather a lead and ultimately win set one, 25-19.

The Bearcats were led in set two by junior opposite Zach Schnittker (Arlington Heights, IL/Buffalo Grove) who tallied five kills in the first 13 points for McKendree. From there the team gained momentum and sophomore outside hitter Patrick Ross (Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek), senior outside hitter Will Frank (Moro, IL/Edwardsville), and freshman middle blocker Tommy McGrath (Paradise Valley, AZ/Brophy College Prep) all picked up kills. Ross and Frank even clinched the key second set win with back-to-back kills to defeat Lourdes, 28-26.

In the third and fourth set, McKendree proved its strength and ability by taking full control of the match. The Bearcats defeated the Grey Wolves 25-16 in the third set and 25-15 in the fourth set to claim the 3-1 victory over Lourdes.

Schnittker led the team's offense with 15 total kills on the match followed by Frank with eight, then Dimke was close behind with seven. Five Bearcats managed the feat of a service ace throughout the match, freshman setter Ryan Serrano (Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek) recorded two while Schnittker, Ross, McGrath, and freshman outside hitter Brendon Dunn (Sherman Oaks, CA/Notre Dame) all tallied one.

At the net for McKendree's defense was McGrath with seven total blocks. Frank was next with four total blocks followed by Schnittker and Serrano who each had three. The defensive team leader in the back row with 10 total digs was Serrano followed by Ross and Schnittker, each tallying six digs in the match.

McKendree returns to match action tomorrow as it takes on the No. 1 team in the country, Long Beach State, for the second day of the Lindenwood Invitational. The match is set to begin at 1 p.m. in St. Charles, Mo.

The 'Dons heated up as the night went on, as they hit .097, .241, .440 and .542 in each of the four sets. This averaged to .312 for the night.

The Mastodons and Pioneers were tied at 15 in the opening frame, but the Pioneers went on a 10-4 run to take it. Tomas Gago had four kills and all three of his digs in the first set.

Pelegrin Vargas led the charge in sets two and three, as he had 12 of his 15 kills between the two sets. After going down 11-9 in the second, the 'Dons went on a 6-2 run to take a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way. Tony Price had five of his nine kills in the second set alone. Purdue Fort Wayne did not lead the third until 15-14, but the 'Dons were able to take a 2-1 lead on a kill from Colton Stone.

The fourth set was all Stone, as he had seven kills on 10 swings in the final frame. The Mastodons took a 3-2 lead on a Vargas ace and did not trail the rest of the night. Richie Diedrich capped off the match with a kill.

Five 'Dons had eight or more kills; Vargas (15), Stone (14), Price (9), Gago (9) and Diedrich (8) were the majority of the offensive attack. Vargas and Stone added two aces each, with Michael Keegan also having one.

Keegan tallied 52 assists (13 per set) to move his career total to 2,903. He needs 57 to pass Omar Rivera and move into fifth place in Mastodon history; 286 will be enough for Keegan to be the rally scoring era leader in program history.

Purdue Fort Wayne improves to 5-4, while Sacred Heart drops to 1-4. The Mastodons are back on the court on Saturday (Feb. 2) at 7 p.m. at Harvard.

Lewis led by as many as eight points in the opening set but Penn State rallied to get within 21-19 on a service ace from Jason Donorovich. Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) had a pair of kills to extend the lead to 23-20 but Matthew McLaren brought the Nittany Lions back to within two with a kill. A service error by McLaren gave the Flyers three set points to work with.
The Nittany Lions fought off the first set point on a kill by Henrik Falck Lauten but a service error by Sam Marsh gave Lewis the opening set 25-22.

The Flyers built a six-point advantage early in set two but Penn State fought back to tie and eventually took a 21-18 lead. Falck Lauten and McLaren each had two kills in that run. Trailing 22-19, Lewis ran off five straight points to grab a 24-22 lead on an ace from Coenen. Down two set points the Nittany Lions fought off the first with a kill from Cal Fisher but the Flyers were able to close it out on a kill from Julian Moses (Atlanta, GA/Atlanta International School) to win 25-23.

The third set belonged to Lewis as it hit .750 (10 kills-1 error-12 total attacks) and used an 11-3 run midway through the frame to extend its lead from two to 10 points. Penn State got as close as eight but the Flyers closed it out scoring six of the last seven points to win 25-12.

Falck Lauten led the Nittany Lions with a match-high 11 kills and McLaren finished with 10 kills. Cole Bogner handed out 26 assists and Fisher finished with five digs. Penn State was held to a .189 (36-18-95) attack percentage.

Long Beach State 3, Quincy 0QUINCY, Ill. - The Hawks men's volleyball team took on #1 Long Beach State on Friday in the first of three matches at the Lindenwood University this weekend. The Hawks fell to Long Beach 3-0 (18-25, 14-25, 17-25).

Play by Play

1st Set

The Hawks came out of the gates firing on all cylinders, grabbing a 3-0 lead over Long Beach State.

Quincy added to its lead in the early portions of the first set and held a 9-4 lead.

Long Beach was able to respond, using a 4-0 run later in the set to take a 12-11 lead.

Shortly after, the Hawks went on a 3-0 run to take a 15-13 lead after a pair of attack errors by Long Beach.

Immediately after the Hawks took the lead, Long Beach back came roaring back.

Long Beach scored seven of the next eight points to hold a a 20-16 lead.

The four-point lead was too much for the Hawks to overcome and Long Beach took the opening set 25-18.

2nd Set

Quincy again took the early advantage with a 7-5 lead. A 4-0 swing by Long Beach saw the Hawks lead disappear and Long Beach take a 9-5 lead.

The teams traded points until Long Beach held a 11-10 advantage. LBSU's offense found its stride in the second set, tallying 12 kills and hitting .588.

Long Beach scored 13 of the set's final 17 points to best the Hawks 25-14 and held a 2-0 set lead.

3rd Set

The Hawks fell behind in the 12-5 in the third set. Quincy went on a 3-0 run to trim the deficit to 12-8.

Quincy was unable to to bring the lead any closer and fell in the third set 25-17.

Long Beach tallied 12 service aces and hit .362 in the 3-0 win.

Stat Leaders

Omari Wheeler: 6 Kills
Matt Friddle: 15 Assists

Next up for QU

The Hawks play Alderson Broaddus tomorrow at Lindenwood University.

QU's Record

3-5

Saint Francis 3, Ohio State 2COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 14 Ohio State University men's volleyball team (3-5) dropped a five-set affair to the Red Flash of Saint Francis University (5-3) Friday (Feb. 1) night. The first two sets went to Saint Francis with the Buckeyes battling back to take the next two, until falling short in the fifth set (25-18, 25-21, 16-25, 25-27, 15-12).

The Buckeyes had five players with at least five rejections (Martin Lallemand, Blake Leeson, Reese Devilbiss, Sean Ryan and Ethan Talley), led by Leeson with nine blocks. Ohio State was able to out-block the Red Flash 16 to 11.

Ohio State debuted true freshman Sean Ryan, peeling his redshirt to fill in for an injured Jake Hanes. Ryan was one of three true freshmen in the Buckeye starting lineup, joining Parker Mikesch and Talley. Mikesch, a libero by trade, was forced into action as a setter with the injury bug hitting Ohio State's setting group as well.

Set 1: SFU pulled ahead early, 7-6, and never looked back. The Red Flash ultimately came out on top 25-18.

Set 2: Power reigned supreme in the second as the two squads totaled 27 kills despite 10 blocks limiting the heavy damage. Mikesch set up 10 assists with Lallemand surfacing as the main beneficiary terminating five balls. The Buckeyes found themselves behind, facing a 20-13 deficit. Fighting to come back, Ohio State fell short 25-21.

Set 3: The Buckeyes came out blazing hot, hitting at a .714 clip on 11 kills. Lallemand and Ryan paired up for seven kills on eight error-free attempts and the Buckeyes blew past Saint Francis 25-16.

Set 4: The most hotly-contested set of the evening came next, seeing nine tied scores and one lead change. Eight errors on behalf of Saint Francis, one coming on set point, helped Ohio State secure the set 27-25.

Set 5: Action was heated in the fifth, tied at 7-7. Saint Francis jumped on top 8-7 prior to the courtside swap and maintained that lead to go on and win the match 15-12.

Ball State 3, Harvard 2
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard was pesky and made multiple runs to extend the match to five sets, but the Ball State University men's volleyball team held on and scored the final five points of the match to defeat the Crimson, 3-2, on Friday night.

The Cardinals moved to 5-4 on the season and won their third straight match while Harvard dropped to 1-5 for the year.

Kills were even at 61 apiece for the match but the Crimson made 21 errors to BSU's 12. The Cardinals also hit .426 to a .303 mark for Harvard. From the service line, Ball State put down five aces while Harvard had three, and the Cardinal defense dug 40 balls while the Crimson dug 35. Ball State also owned an 11-6 advantage in blocking.

The Cardinals were sluggish out of the gate as a tightly contested first set slipped away at the end with Harvard winning 25-22 to go up 1-0 early. BSU quickly woke up in set two though as it won going away by a margin of 25-19 to even the match at one apiece.

Set three was by far the most entertaining of the match. Ball State held a large lead and appeared to be cruising toward an easy win, but Harvard rallied by scoring five straight to even the score at 22 all. The teams traded points the rest of the way until the Cardinals gained the necessary two-point advantage to get the 27-25 win and go up 2-1.

With a 2-1 advantage in the match and looking to close it out, Ball State again got off to a slow start in set four. The team clawed its way back and tied the game at 19-19, but Harvard used a four-point run to eventually claim the set and send the match to a decisive fifth game.

The two sides traded points early in the final set, but things came to a halt as BSU challenged a controversial ruling. The Cardinals won the challenge and used the momentum to dominate the remainder of the game. A 5-0 run was key as Ball State won the final set going away by a 15-8 margin.

David Siebum led the Cardinals in kills with 18 and was followed closely by true freshman Kaleb Jenness who notched 17. Matt Szews had two big service aces while also leading the team in blocks with five, while Nick LaVanchy's 12 digs were a game high. Jake Romano compiled 40 assists.

The Cardinals quickly get back to work as they travel to take on Sacred Heart in Fairfield, Conn. On Saturday night. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. ET.